Don’t Sweat About Your Exam Scores

Just get a three-park superpass and have a good time at Schoolies

What you need to know

High-school exams around the country are coming to an end

Don't stress about the results, it's all going to be fine

Probably.

Nah, you'll be right.

With exams coming to an end, about 100,000 recently graduated high-school students around the country will be enjoying their first few days of freedom. They’ll be partying it up at Schoolies, making decisions they definitely won't regret tomorrow, and planning gap years to find themselves, because what better way to discover who you are than on a Contiki tour.

But, they’ll also be sitting pretty tight as they wait for their exam results to be released in the next few weeks. Did I calculate Pythagoras’ theorem correctly on my maths exam? Did I remember that Shakespeare quote correctly on my English exam? Did I circle C enough on that multiple-choice exam?

For a lot of students, this period can be as stressful as the exams themselves. With university places becoming more and more competitive, students are required to achieve higher and higher ATAR scores to get into their preferred course.

However, though it might seem to be critically important right now, not getting into your first preference doesn’t necessarily mean your career is doomed. Many students who miss out on their first preference simply transfer across after a year or two of study. Other students find that even if they did get into the course they wanted, they soon realise they actually want to study something different entirely. The point is, when you’re 18, you have no idea what you want to do and be in your life, so don’t stress.

Also, don’t forget, nobody really cares about your ATAR anyway. Sure, people will probably ask about how you went within the first couple of days of results being released, but after that, literally nobody cares anymore. Speaking to Fairfax, 2017 VCE graduate Gus Picking, who scored an ATAR of 99.7, revealed: “Once you finish, you have a couple of days of people asking how you did. [After that] no one wants to know.”

Plus, plenty of people who didn’t even finish high-school, went on to be crazy successful, including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Richard Branson. Which, if anything, goes to show that doing well in high-school is a hindrance to becoming a billionaire.

Not to mention, heaps of people who were successful at high-school went on to achieve nothing in real life, and you’ll meet plenty of them at your 10-year high-school reunion.

So for now, just sit back, be proud of yourself for getting through your exams and enjoy the sweet taste of freedom, which is much better than the bitter taste of goon.